


Campaign Speeches and Wedding Vows

by orphan_account



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, That's the only thing I have common with Leslie, We both write things instead of sleeping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-25 22:51:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12045972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In the nights following Leslie's election and leading up to Ben's move to DC, the couple contemplates their relationship. Maybe it's time to stop writing campaign speeches and start writing wedding vows.





	1. Ben

_ During my time as city councilor, I want to focus on your hopes, and not your fears. I want to solve problems instead of creating friction. And I will work hard, every hour of every day, to make Pawnee a better place to live.  _

_ Because I love this city. _

With a final jab of his pen on paper, Ben Wyatt thumps back onto his pillows and lets out a long sigh. 19 hours until the election. 19 hours until the best five months of his life came to a close and he was left exhausted and unemployed. And happy. So, so happy.

It had been 18 years since Ben Wyatt had run a campaign - if you could even call his mayoral race a “campaign” - and he had almost forgotten the euphoric adrenaline rush and the flash of the cameras, the applause and the feeling that you were on your way to bigger things. But it was different this time because it wasn’t he who was running for office. It was Leslie. Ben had never been in love before. And maybe part of that euphoria was knowing that it was  _ Leslie.  _ Leslie’s dream he was making true, Leslie’s life he was so blessed to be a part of.

Turning the page of his worn notebook, he sighed, knowing what his next task was: The concession speech. Perhaps, he mused, he would just write up that one long Bruce Wayne monologue from The Dark Knight that he was so fond of. He was fairly certain they wouldn’t be needing a concession speech, anyway. But no, he owed it to Leslie to support her: win, lose, or draw. Part of that was preparing for the possibility that he dream would be crushed. Taking a deep breath, he got to work.

_ In my time working for this city’s Parks department- _

...Ben stopped, at a loss for words. What could he possibly write that would convey what he needed it to convey? How was he supposed to sit here in the bed he shared with his candidate and write the words that would end her - their - campaign for worse? She made flawless campaign speeches in her  _ sleep,  _ for god’s sake. Surely he could write one mediocre one while fully conscious. It was his job, his responsibility, to write this one last speech. For Leslie.

Frustrated, he scratched out the words he had written and started again. He seemed to be good at that, starting again. 

It was then he caught sight of the small wooden box sitting on Leslie’s - his and Leslie’s - bookcase in the corner. It stood in the moonlight from the window, propped open by that original Knope 2012 button he had given to Leslie centuries ago. Back then, the button had ended effectively ended their relationship and kicked off her campaign, but now, as her campaign drew to a close and their relationship reached uncharted territories, he thought maybe that box would serve a different purpose. He could picture it now, a shiny silver ring sitting peacefully in that velvet lined box, his knee touching the floor, his voice somehow managing to ask the love of his life to stay forever.

In that moment, Ben Wyatt looked down at the page in front of him, the words he had promptly crossed out, realizing it was  _ time _ to start again. To stop writing campaign speeches and begin writing wedding vows.

_ In my time working for the state government, my job sent me... _

 

_ Looking for you. _

 

_ I love you and I like you.  _

 


	2. Leslie

“Peaceful” was not a word Leslie Knope would ever use to describe herself or her life. But laying her in bed, with only the moon to light the cluttered room, wrapped in Ben Wyatt’s arms, that was the only word that came to mind. The stress and hassle of a small-town campaign have ended, her life-long dream has come true, and now all that’s left is the gentle ticking of her clock - In true Leslie Knope fashion, the numbers on said clock have each been replaced by a different female politician - and the rhythmic sounds of Ben’s breathing (maybe she’ll draw a mustache on his face once he falls asleep?  _ No. _ ) 

In her thirty second of peace, Leslie allows herself to relax her muscles and lets her eyes flutter closed. Memories flicker through her mind - a snapshot reel of Leslie Knope life: winning freshman class elections at Pawnee Central High School, graduating with a Master’s in Government from Indiana University, meeting Ann Perkins, the entire harvest fest, her and Ben’s first kiss, her closing statement at the debate.

It all seems to pass, fading one by one until it’s just Leslie’s hopes for the future that remain. Of course, she mostly just wants to complete this one term on City Council, but Leslie Knope was never one to stop dreaming. Eventually, she’ll become mayor of Pawnee, and then maybe she’ll find a place on the federal level, and by 2020, she’ll be the first female president of the United States of America. She can picture it now: sitting at the desk in the Oval Office, approving a bill or two, maybe changing the world a little bit, retiring for the evening to the Presidential Bedroom with Ben and their six kids...wait, what? Kids? Since when? Actually, come to think of it, that sounds nice. Mentally, she carefully places that in her “long-term dreams” file. She rolls over in place, gently tapping her lover’s shoulder.

“Ben?”

“Mmph?” He moans into her shirt.

“Ben!”

“ICE TOWN!” He snapped up violently, scanning the quiet room before realizing what he had done and looking sheepishly up at her. “Oh. Sorry, honey. I wonder if I'll ever stop doing that...What did you want?’’

“I-” It was then that Leslie realized she had not thought out her response at all. “ _ Hey, you’re the love of my life, wanna get married and have 11 kids while I’m the president?”  _ didn’t really seem to cut it. “I was just thinking…”

He raised an eyebrow at her above his still-sleepy eyes. “...Yes?”

“Nevermind, it’s silly. Go back to sleep.”

“Leslie, you woke me up at three AM to ask me something. I’m not going back to sleep until you tell me what’s bothering you.”

“Um, ok. I - Let’s move in together once you get back from DC.”

“Leslie, I thought we had already established that we were doing that.”

Now it was Leslie’s turn to look perplexed and sleep deprived. Then again, that was probably how she always looked. “What?”

“You don’t remember this? Really?  _ You  _ don’t remember making a major life decision.”

“Wyatt…”

“Leslie, after we got home, we started packing for DC and I asked you to move in with me. You said yes, and also that you should start cleaning up your house in preparation. Then you fell asleep standing up.”

“Yeah, that does sound like me…”

Ben smiled affectionately, ruffling her hair. “Go to sleep, Knope. We’ll talk in the morning, ok?”

“Yeah, ok. Good night, Ben.”

“Good night, Leslie. Also, maybe we should get a new place? No offense, but your place is kind of a scary nightmare-”

“Hoarder nest, yes, I know.” But her head had already hit the pillow, her eyes had already fluttered closed. She does not fall asleep - Leslie had somehow managed to condition herself to only need about four hours of sleep. She probably won’t fall asleep for another good 55 minutes. Ben, on the other hand, is asleep within seconds. For a split second, the universe allows the co-workers-turned-lovers-turned-exes-turned-campaign team-turned-couple to enjoy the peace for a split second before the sun rises and life resumes.

And just for a moment, she lets herself imagine that the man whose limbs and whose life is currently entangled with her’s has lowered himself onto one knee, and he’s holding the same shiny box that has contained a campaign button, a Washington Monument figurine, and in this fantasy, a ring.

Throughout their whirlwind relationship, that box had opened up possibilities Leslie hadn’t considered possible. Each time the small square of finely polished wood opened its clasp, Ben or Leslie had opened their hearts and assured one another it was okay to want to go. Now, Leslie just wanted Ben to get down on one knee and beg her to stay.

For in reply to her fitful nights of sleep-campaigning, Ben Wyatt had opened the box and given her the support she had needed to make that dream a reality.

And in response to Ben’s newfound love for managing campaigns, the box had reminded her that if anyone deserved the chance to fly, it was the man who had given Leslie her wings.

Now, in the tiny pocket of Leslie’s imagination, the box had noticed the hand clasped in her own, it had noticed the peace that he brought her clouded mind, it noticed her love for him in every possible way. The box had noticed that after almost a year of dreams fulfilled by its contents, the only prayer it had yet to answer was the one which gave her not a job or a title, but a home in the city that housed her, a haven with the man who loved her.

So when Leslie Knope finally falls asleep that night, her subconscious stopped writing campaign speeches and began writing wedding vows.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FINISHED SOMETHING. I FINALLY FINISHED SOMETHING.  
> THERE'S A THING, AND IT'S FINISHED.
> 
> Real talk: Thanks a million for reading! If you have any particularly strong feelings about my work, please leave a comment, kudos, or bookmark - Like all writers ever, I thrive off of praise and constructive criticism. 
> 
> Thanks again for reading. BYE!


End file.
